Our OFP Fundraising Champions, like K9 Niko, have been getting really creative with their fundraising efforts leading up to our 13th Annual "Paws with Patriots" Wine Gala on August 3rd! We really hope you'll join us, there's still time, but tickets are selling out fast.
If you're unable to attend but wish to make a donation to support our biggest fundraiser of the year, this is a great way to do it! You can see all our amazing champions on our event platform; many are veterans and first responders themselves. They're dedicated to fundraising for our mission, but they need your help! It only takes a few minutes to donate and make a life-changing impact. Thank you OFP community for your invaluable support!🙏🙏🙏
OFP 13th Annual "Paws with Patriots" Wine Gala Platform (scroll down to the OFP Champion Fundraisers to help them meet their goal: https://pawswithpats24.givesmart.com
Mary always speaks from the heart. Here's her acceptance speech for the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce "2024 Nonprofit of the Year".
This New Year's Eve, we're sharing one final heartfelt message to you all from our founder and executive director Mary Cortani for 2023. We hope you'll take a few minutes to watch before welcoming in 2024.
➡️Online Giving Platform: (quick, easy, and highly secure)
https://ofpendofyear23.givesmart.com
➡️Mobile Donations: text ofpendofyear23 to 76278
Day 9 of OFP's 10 Days of Giving: These are the final hours of giving in 2023! Today you can make one donation that helps transform two lives and heals families - like our client CJ.
Earlier this week we shared a preview of CJ and Rosco's (a pup at risk of being euthanized) inspirational story. If you haven't had a chance to see the full video, here it is. It only takes a few minutes to watch and understand the life changing impact your donations make. Thank you to CJ's family for sharing their story and for their commitment to his healing journey in the program. Please share this post and consider a donation today. If we all do what we can to help, we can empower more healing journeys like CJ's together.❤️🩹
➡️Online Giving Platform: (quick, easy, and highly secure)
https://ofpendofyear23.givesmart.com
➡️Mobile Donations: text ofpendofyear23 to 76278
Day 7 of OFP's 10 Days of Holiday Giving: After suffering the loss of his first service dog, Zane, Angel didn't know how to continue his healing journey without him. Zane had been his right hand, his six o'clock, helping him to manage the invisible wounds of military service. Until he reached out to Mary for help and she made an introduction she knew he needed.
Our journey with our clients isn't for a season, it's for a lifetime. That would not be possible without your year-end tax-deduction donations. Every healing journey taken starts with your giving - that's why it's so crucial. Will you help another veteran start their healing journey in the New Year?
CLICK HERE TO VIEW ANGEL'S FULL STORY and to donate. Every $1 donated helps to save 2 lives and heal families. Thank you to our client Angel for bravely sharing his story.
https://ofpendofyear23.givesmart.com
Mobile Donations: text ofpendofyear23 to 76278
Over the past two years, Cristiano suffered 45 major seizures, then he was paired with Rosco. A mother shares the journey to give her son a bright future and her family a peace of mind they'd never known before.
You can preview Cristiano's story here, then join our giving platform to see the full video. It only takes a few minutes to watch this incredibly inspiring story that moved us all to good tears.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW FULL VIDEO: https://ofpendofyear23.givesmart.com
➡️Mobile Donations: Text ofpendofyear23 to 76278
Thursday Thank You: San Francisco 49ers Tight End George Kittle was recently honored with the "Perry/Yonamine Unity Award." This award recognizes the player who most unifies the team to make a positive impact on and off the field. George is also up for the NFL "Salute to Service" Award (vote open through November 30th https://www.nfl.com/causes/salute/nominees/2023/vote)
In recognition of his contributions, George was able to choose a nonprofit to receive a donation - he chose Operation Freedom Paws! Watch this video to see the presentation of this beautiful legacy award and the generous gift OFP received to help veterans, first responders children. and other individuals transform their lives with a service dog. On behalf of our clients, thank you to George Kittle, the Kittle family, and the 49ers for all you do for OFP!
#georgekittle #49ers #operationfreedompaws #hiddenpearlspodcast #gratitude #empoweringourmission
What a great time we had on Sunday celebrating the honorees at "Sip & Celebrate" hosted by the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce. The honorees are such inspiring individuals and organizations. More to come on this beautiful event. But first, we wanted to share Mary Cortani's "Woman of the Year" video that was played for those in attendance with you all. We hope you'll take a few minutes to watch, we love when we can share a message directly from Mary with our community.
Thank you Alan Chan for shooting the interview, Vicki Topaz and Alan Chan for the photos, Scott MacDougall for the edit, and a special thank you to Mary for her time.
What it meant to our veteran client, Carlos, to be welcomed into Operation Freedom Paws' program and meet his service dog, Ruthie. Your donations bring new hope in the new year through a new human-canine relationship that transforms lives at both ends of the leash.
Thank you to documentary filmmaker, Vicki Topaz.
OFP "End-of-Year" Giving Platform:
https://ofpendofyear22.givesmart.com
Mobile donations: text ofpendofyear2022 to 76278
Thank you to NBC Bay Area anchors Raj Mathai, Janelle Wang, and reporter, Christine Ni, for their coverage of Mary Cortani as the 49ers "Frontline Hero of the Game." They did a great job of sharing her military service and Operation Freedom Paws' mission.
Our team was stopped on the way into the Levi stadium Sunday night by a group who saw the story and thanked us for the work we do. Thank you NBC Bay Area for helping us to reach more of our community, especially those we hope to give a hand-up with the resources they deserve to regain their independence and thrive.
It's not easy to surprise Mary but the San Francisco 49ers and U.S. Bank did it!! Here is the moment when she was presented with a 20,000 donation on the field to fund a new Veteran service dog team. We were are all so moved and thrilled by it! Deepest thanks to the 49ers and U.S. Bank for this incredible gift! And thank you to our client, Army Veteran Morfett and his service dog Loki, for joining Mary on the field.
Saturday Spotlight: We're excited to see all of you who are joining us for the 11th Annual "Paws with Patriots" Wine Gala on August 6th, it's going to be a special night! And thank you to everyone who has donated so far to our biggest fundraising event of the year.
A special shout out to our OFP Champion Fundraisers who have been getting really creative! Check out how Team K9 King Frances (working dog trainer) has professionally wrapped their entire van in our logo, complete with a QR code on the side that can be scanned to donate! Just amazing!!
You can go onto our event platform to see all of our awesome OFP Champions Fundraisers from across the country and support their fundraising efforts. We are close to welcoming our 500th client and their family into the program, let's do this!
Click here to support a champion fundraiser, get all the event details and purchase gala tickets, we're booking up fast!
https://pawswithpats22.givesmart.com
Mentoring Monday: “Always end on a positive” is one of Mary’s frequent reminders. Whenever you’re working on a new behavior with your dog, celebrate when you’ve made even a little bit of progress. For example, if you’re trying to teach your dog to sit and his butt hits the ground for a split-second, praise, take that win and then go back to walking. Don’t expect him to immediately sit and hold the position for 5 minutes. But don’t let him get away with not sitting at all, or you’ll find it that much harder to get that “sit” next time. For the dog, it’s about respecting and wanting to please you as well as understanding what you want. Some dogs’ faces are like open books when they’re trying hard to learn something new---you can almost see their brain cells processing. Other dogs show tension in their bodies, such as stiff shoulders and tails when they’re not sure what’s being asked of them. By structuring your lesson so you’re asking him to do something that is just a small step up from something he already knows, you’re setting him up to succeed. If it’s a bad day (and we all have them) take a couple of deep breaths, regroup, reduce your expectations to something you absolutely know your dog can do, and focus on that. If you don’t add anything new that session, that’s okay! It’s more important to build your bond and communication than to have obedience and a flawed relationship. By always ending on a positive, you increase your dog’s confidence, and your own as the handler. HINT: this approach can work well with people, too!!
Watch this short video as Mary works with Teddy to help him overcome his reaction to the Halloween cats. She lets him work at his own pace, but keeps using her praise voice and treats.
We want express our gratitude to seven amazing K9 teams who are in a bit of a friendly competition to raise funds for OFP service dog teams in honor of our 10 year non-profit anniversary this month!
You can follow their creative fundraising efforts in our Instagram stories @opfreedompaws. Thank you to our K9 Teams, Ed & K9 Duke (organizer), John & K9 Tabitha, Travis & K9 Pako, Richard & K9 Kylo, Chris & K9 Kleio, Treavor & K9 King Frances and Steve & K9 Dragon!🙌
These guys have really stepped in a big way for our clients. Check out this awesome trailer compliments of Team Travis & K9 Pako!🎬⭐️👏
You can go onto our event website to check out and donate to their individual champion fundraising pages and to see and support all of our incredible fundraising champions! You are all amazing!🤩❤️🙏
https://pawswithpats.givesmart.com
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Thursday Thank you and updates